From the Pirate Bay to Google’s self-driving cars: 5 stories you have to read

Sometimes, even well-meaning advancements in technology can cause unintended ripples. Sure, autonomous cars will change lives — but what effect will they have on the world when humans are no longer needed behind the wheel? How can you promote your product now that your audience has moved online, where banner ads are ignored and traditional strategies are all but redundant? Keeping tabs on suspicious activity in your area through a Twitter stream sounds great — but will it fill you with unnecessary paranoia or inadvertently tip off criminals? These are just a few of the questions raised by the authors of the tech stories we think are the best reads this week.

In a previous article, Erin Griffith issued a call for the digital industry to wake up and realise that its online ad strategy (which involved sitting around and waiting for advertising spend to catch up with escalating web usage) was not working. She discussed the failure of display advertising to generate substantial income, and argued that just because people are spending more time online does not mean sticking a banner ad on popular pages will guarantee success. In this follow up, Griffith considers the potential for native advertising (such as the promoted posts found in Facebook and Twitter streams) to save the day — both on the desktop web and mobile. Can brands move from being obvious salesmen to ‘friends’ which share and recommend things without being pushy?

What do you do when the file-sharing hub you helped create lands you in a Swedish court for aiding copyright infringement? You stand trial, appeal the verdict, and appeal the verdict again. Then you leave (or don’t return to) the country. To date, none of the Pirate Bay four have served their jail terms (although one did complete a few months under house arrest), the millions they owe in damages has yet to be fully repaid, and the galaxy’s most resilient bit-torrent site is still up and running. Cyrus Farivar pieces together the complicated story, from the 2009 trial to Gottfrid Svartholm Warg’s recent deportation.

Ever heard of startup dating? Apparently it’s big in Japan. Every week, startup founders and potential partners meet up to discuss their ideas and find their perfect match. In a country where the major tech corporations are not seen as major innovators, entrepreneurs are working to break free of the culture-constrained notion that they should spend their days working for the giants instead of striking out on their own. The New York Times speaks to some of the startup founders who are vying for funding, respect and a place on the forefront of innovation.

Could Twitter become the new local, social community bulletin board? While the web allows you to potentially reach a worldwide audience, a hyper-local focus is just as powerful and important. A police department in the US is exploring how it can use Twitter to keep citizens informed about crime in their neighbourhoods without causing panic, tipping off criminals about easy targets or infringing on the rights of victims involved in sensitive cases involving domestic violence or sexual assault.

Some have argued that technology isn’t killing the job market, just making certain skills more important than others. But there’s no denying that things are changing — and, if and when Google’s autonomous cars hit the mainstream, something as intricate as driving can be performed without human input. Thanks to a recently inked law, Google’s fleet could be speeding around California without a human at the wheel as early as 2015. No one can deny the benefits of self-driving cars (fewer accidents caused by human error, freedom of movement for the elderly, youth, disabled and intoxicated), but will these vehicles of the future even manage to devalue the jobs previously deemed secure?

Author | Lauren Granger

While studying towards her Bachelor of Journalism degree at Rhodes University, Lauren gave into her fascination with everything digital. As she was more interested in creeping tech sites and Twitter than she was in picking up one of those printed things called 'newspapers', she decided to specialise in... More